I agree with you. My wife and I paid off the house and yes, I probably could have gotten a better return on the money had I invested it but it gave me the freedom to go from a high paying, high stress job to retiring at 55.

Yes, having several hundred thousand sitting in an investment account and using that to make the monthly payments is basically the same thing but with growth potential. In my personal circumstances, I could not and would not have retired with a mortgage because of some age related mental and physical health issues with my wife.

I'm afraid that if I died, she'd either not make the mortgage payments and lose the house and/or be scammed out of the money, lose the house, and the investments. No, not everyone is in that position but I am.